Joanne Orlando

Are you over-sharenting? That is, sharing too much information about your kids online? Children have a fundamental right to privacy, but the choices adults are making with technology, especially social media, is challenging that right.

A US study has found two-thirds of parents posted pictures of their children online, raising important questions about potential violations of privacy, especially considering this material could potentially be mined by future employers and other authorities in decades to come. How can a parent have an honest discussion with children about the inappropriateness of sharing information online, when they have been posting intimate details online about them their entire lives? While your children may be offended if they are left out of stories you share with loved ones online, there are still questions around the level of personal detail in the funny photos and anecdotes being shared.

How can a parent have an honest discussion with children about the inappropriateness of sharing information online, when they have been posting intimate details online about them their entire lives?

A new trend is the growing selection of footage online from parents who have attached a GoPro (a personal camera often used for action video) to a toddler’s helmet so that they can see what life is like from their child’s point of view. This techno-documentation of infant lives is now extending beyond social media and making its mark as a tool to measure intellectual growth. I recently researched an early childhood centre that attaches a GoPro to children to record what the child does and so evaluate their development.

Sure the desire to understand a child more fully is understandable, however recording the movements of toddlers and babies raises particularly significant issues as they are not in a position to give consent. A similar act of placing a camera atop of an adult’s head without their permission would be rightly considered a massive invasion of privacy. So how is monitoring a baby in this way any different from Robin Williams' sci-fi movie The Final Cut, where, without consent, implants are placed in the characters’ brains and their lives are recorded?

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The trend for improved techno-documentation of children is making gains on a large scale. With the increasing obsession for collecting information, data mining and data sharing of information is really threatening children’s right to privacy.

In the USA, the Obama administration has recently supported a new initiative aimed at tracking children for more than two decades, from as early as infancy through the start of their careers. The databases are being built in nearly every state at a total cost of well over $1 billion. They are intended to store intimate details on tens of millions of children and young adults — identified by name, birth date, address and even, in some cases, social security number. Data will be collected in response to hundreds of questions: Did the child made friends easily as a toddler? Was he disciplined for fighting as a teen? Did he take geometry? Does she suffer from mental illness? Did he she graduate from college and how much does she earn? The database is being promoted with the intention of helping officials pinpoint the education system’s strengths and weaknesses and craft public policy accordingly.

While there is an important place for data-driven policies that support children, there are also serious ethical implications regarding such a massive data mining operation. "Did he/she make friends in Year 2?" is not something you as a parent want dragging around decades later, and nor would your child. We've already had laws passed banning the use of DNA for excluding people — now we should be interrogating whether our digital DNA will run into the same abuses. It has now accumulated to a point where we should start calling our online data "eDNA" as a point of comparison. While we expect this data to be secure, we are increasingly confronted with more evidence of the lack of security of information stored online.

What may be driving this desire to techno-document every aspect of children’s lives is that we have the technology to do it. However the capability of technology requires us all to be responsible and make informed decisions about what information we collect and make available, and the possible consequences to the rights of children.

We have come to accept the information gathering obsessiveness that defines this era, while recognising that this is the first generation of children who may grow up without anonymity. Techno-documenting children’s lives from cradle to grave on their behalf raises important issues regarding privacy, and is a crucial issue of respect for children. They are not there for us to run social experiments. They are just as important as adults, and we should respect their privacy, regardless of the latest technology we would like to try out.

Dr Joanne Orlando is a researcher in technology and learning at the University of Western Sydney

11 comments so far

Parents and indeed anyone needs to be mindful of mining information with the thought of how that information is used or collated. Whether it's a fear of the bogey man, the parish priest, marketing businesses or the Govt- indeed a foreign Govt or a bogey man overseas.Innocent sharing of photos/ footage/ information may seem innocuous at the time but with the pace of information sharing and technology we may well find ourselves in a regrettable space.All info is for sale, but rather than worry about an innocent Go-Pro clip that is freely offered and will end up for sale, should we not be more worried over what we have no control.The increasing intrusion by Govts and Business into our private lives with "info mining " via financial transactions, CTTV and drone being the predominant concern.Be alert and alarmed, our children and grandchildren have more to worry about than Social Media and Go Pro's.A slippery path we tread.

Commenter

A country gal

Date and time

June 26, 2014, 1:15AM

Agreed. I have shunned all modern technology and have moved the family to the rainforest with the Ewoks.

Commenter

Green Christine

Date and time

June 26, 2014, 5:17PM

Good points but maybe it's too late? It seems generation Facebook has been taught to share and to adopt the perspective 'nothing to hide'. I don't think people are that fussed with their privacy anymore.

Technology and apps are increasingly designed with features that make advertising easier. All done without any consent from the user. People seem OK with companies assuming consent rather than asking for it and detailing how the information they collect will be used.

Places like Night Clubs scan and store license's (Name, address, signature and photo). They had wanted to collect finger-prints before patrons were allowed entry. My ISP prefers to collect a biometric voice data sample to assist with ID if I need tech support.

Seems everything gets hacked (Cupid/Sony/Telstra/...others?) and customer data appears everywhere on the net but no one seems too upset.

That doesn't sound like a milieu where one second of thought will be given to kids being techno-documented.

Commenter

MattG

Date and time

June 26, 2014, 3:29AM

so true, i once lost out on a job because my potential employer found an old picture of me in a nappy drawing no my parents wall with a red crayon. they didn't think that kind of behavior would fit in with the company or their colour scheme.

Commenter

really

Location

melbourne

Date and time

June 26, 2014, 12:35PM

It's so dull as well. Too many baby photos on Facebook - boring!

Commenter

Baz

Date and time

June 26, 2014, 1:06PM

Yeah, I've never put photos of my kids on Facebook or the like, mainly to protect their privacy, but also because parents sharing their kiddy photos for all to see is just so damn boring!

Commenter

Ag

Date and time

June 26, 2014, 1:28PM

What's worrying is the amount of information parents are putting out there about their children. Their profiles are public, they upload crap quality mobile video and photos everyday, of the exact same poses of their child/children. Detail where they are, the school and activities the child attends.The worst is the little girls whose parents make pose like models in the photos. Like they are on some talent beauty talent quest.

They have no respect that other children or parents may appear in the background. The more likes their child gets the more images the parents put up.It is almost as if they are prostituting their children for validation and attention.At the very least, put your settings to private.

It's as if the parent is living their life through their child or using their child to attract god knows what and who. There are so many types of predators out there, not just the sexual ones but the data and identity thieves who will gather so much info on these kids that in 20 yrs time BINGO, that's when the lack of privacy is going to affect these kids and they won't know whats hit them.Not to mention the stuff that will be dredged up by cyber bullies in the future.

Years ago I started up a website. Unbeknownst to me, my full name, address, phone number, email and last visa numbers appear on a whois public page.Privacy should never be taken for granted.

Commenter

Riff Raff

Date and time

June 26, 2014, 4:02PM

Interesting? My wife and I decided a long time ago not to have kids as we envisaged a very negative future for the world. We made the correct decision judging from the present state of affairs and we're not just referring to our PM.I don't have a problem with snooping for the sake of security. What worries me is the dependence by people on such crazy things like Facebook etc. If you want to expose yourself to the world then face the consequences. I simply use GoPro for my motorbike adventures and hilarious shots of my dogs.Privacy for kids? There is no such thing and never will be. If I did have kids it would be pointless in me telling them not to expose themselves on the web. I was once a kid myself and I know that I would do the exact opposite of what I was told. It is a horrible world we live in and the media is largely responsible for this (SMH excluded of course?). Big Brother Murdoch might differ with my views however. To the credit of SMH (Fairfax) there does not seem much interference by the major shareholder Gina Rhindheart. Perhaps she is too busy her GoPro app on her own kids these days?

Commenter

Taipan

Location

Invergowrie

Date and time

June 26, 2014, 6:34PM

All it requires is a bit of thought and common sense. However, the problem with common sense is that it's not that common unfortunately.

Commenter

Leo

Location

Dulwich Hill

Date and time

June 26, 2014, 7:01PM

If every 'Ozy' parent does what their grand -mothers/fathers did then all would be fine.